Menu

REQUIREMENTS

In order to develop improved systems and products that facilitate response to and management of urban floods, the end-users requirements have been collected and analyzed by questionnaires, interviews and workshops.

At the end-user workshop held 2017-02-28, groups of end-users representing different sectors and categories related to urban flooding gathered in Aalborg (DK), Rotterdam (NL), Helsinki (FI) and Norrköping (SE) to discuss limitations of today’s urban flood forecasting methods and systems as well as ideas for improvements. In total 40 end-users participated. Individual brainstorming sessions were held in each location, after which joint plenary wrap-up sessions were held on video. The brainstorming and the discussions, which were focusing on three categories; before, during and after the flood, generated a lot of valuable input for the design of the forecasting experiments in MUFFIN.

The data needed before the flood concerned requirements of the resolution such as higher, model specific or at catchment size resolution. The geographical coverage was requested at catchment area, factors like elevation data, topography, location and condition of culverts were important. Needs for lead time on rainfall forecasts and urban flood forecasts varied 1-14 hours depending on how the warnings would be used. End-users required more accuracy in the forecasts, especially in terms of intensity and duration of the rainfall. There was also the need to avoid extra uncertainty and to limit the number of false alarms.

For better management of wastewater and drainage from fields during the flood, higher resolution real-time forecasts would be useful as well as information about when the rain will stop. The coverage of the observations during the flood should include observations from the storm water network, ditches, merging of radar and rain gauges, single observation stations and catchment areas and smaller streams and roads. Accuracy was also important for the real time observations as well as the known levels of certainty.

After the flooding, collecting data such as flow/water level observations and information such as aerial images and documentation on the damages of rainfall were important to ensure that knowledge is not forgotten and that others can learn from how events progressed and were managed. High resolution temporal and spatial forecasts are needed to reproduce events, for analysis and as a basis for new solutions. The accuracy in the forecast can be validated by evaluating how well the forecasts matched what happened.